Developing teaching speaking in a foreign language to young learners through interactive methods

Research questions

1. 
   Do interactive methods develop young learners’ speaking skill more effectively than conducting speaking lessons in traditional way?
   
2. 
   Do using interactive methods in teaching speaking increase learners’ interest towards learning L2?
   

MATERIALS AND METHODS
To achieve the aim of the research experimental study and empirical observation methods were used. The research took place at school number 101 in Tashkent included two teachers and twenty students aged 9 and they divided into two groups: treatment group and comparison group. In the framework of the experimental study, we worked out an interactive activity-oriented pattern of a lesson focused on speaking practice. The experimental study lasted for a month with forty five minute lessons two times in a week. During the lessons visual, verbal, audio-visual, auditory means of teaching were used. Each lessons consisted of four basic stages and they were introduction, warming up, main body of the lesson and reflexive stage. Moreover, lessons were conducted with multimedia technologies as a smart board, computers, etc. Participants were examined by speaking about topics that they learnt before the research had begun. After finishing the research both groups examined again and marked for getting the result of the research. All marks were written to the Excel and compared in the app JASP.
Two groups were taught for a month and two units were covered with them treatment group was taught with interactive methods and comparison group was taught with traditional methods. During this period students learnt comparative and superlative adjectives, imperative sentences in negative form. Comparison group was taught from the book and they learnt new words by heart and told during lessons and memorized texts from book. As it mentioned above treatment group’s lessons conducted in four stages and in introduction part teacher greeted with students and asked questions such “how are you” from several students. In warming up stage teacher introduced new topic and new words. In the main body of the lesson interactive activities predominated and teacher used interactive activities’ materials. For instance, teacher distributed different animals’ pictures to all students and asked from one student to show it to the class and asked from participants “What animal is it?, Who likes it?” one of the students answered like “It is a cat and I like it” then teacher asked another questions such as “Is it big?, Is it small?” it continued like this. After answering questions students should divided into pairs and made little texts by describing their partners’ lovely animal like “this is a cat and Soliha likes it, it is small, it is not big and it is smaller than a horse. It is smallest animal among pictures” by working in pairs they developed speaking skills in describing things. They were young and had difficulties in making long sentences as this text was enough for them. Then the role play was conducted in the topic “In the zoo park” and one student was an instructor in the zoo and others were visitors and asked questions like “What animal is it? Is it small or big?, What animal is the biggest in the zoo? What animal is the smallest one? Besides, the student who was an instructor warned visitors like “Don’t touch them, don’t feed them” by telling them they learnt imperative sentences in negative form. After all of them teacher distributed little poems about animals and they learnt them by heart. During these processes teacher did not disturbed learners but when they asked words which they did not know she told them. The reflexive stage plays no less crucial role in developing speaking skills. At the end of the lesson teacher gave feedback to learners where they did mistakes and corrected them. It is important that asking students about the activities, their impression, interests and comments about the lesson but it does not mean that teacher should change the structure of the lesson but she should add other activities which arouse learners’ interest. After a month participants were examined again with the topics which they learnt in a month.